WXIX
This article is not to be confused with the real life Fox affiliate WXIX in Cincinnati, Ohio. WXIX is a CBS affiliate serving Doral, Florida. Operating on channel 19, WXIX is owned and operated by Evans Communications. Even though Doral is in the Miami market, WXIX broadcasts to areas just outside of WYAM's (CBS affiliate in Miami) region. WXIX was launched in 1973 as an Independent, remaining that way until 1995, when it became the UPN affiliate for Doral. In 2006, WXIX became a MyNetwork affiliate, where they remained until 2014 when CBS Television Group approached Island Television and asked if WXIX would be a CBS affiliate in 2015. CBS owned WYAM, but WYAM's range (since they are channel 50) are just outside of communities like Doral. So on Jan. 1, 2015, WXIX became a CBS affiliate. To brace themselves for the move, WXIX moved the MyNetworkTV affiliation to 19.2. On Jan. 30, 2016, it was announced that Island Television, as well as Higgins Broadcasting, and Oakhurst Broadcasting, were merging into Adelphia Communications. So Island Television had to sell the station, and the station was sold to Evans Communications. In addition to running the CBS schedule, WXIX also airs syndicated programming, including The Pyramid, Press Your Luck, Match Game, and Tattletales. History WXIX first signed on the air on December 9, 1973, originally operating as an independent station. the station was owned by Grant Broadcasting. The station originally operated from studio facilities located on Northwest 52nd Avenue in Miami Gardens. The station ran numerous off-network reruns of classic television sitcoms from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, along with a number of cartoons. It also ran some off-network drama series, and classic western and martial arts movies that were usually shown on Saturday afternoons. WXIX soon made a name for itself in South Florida for its slick on-air look. It billed itself as "Florida's Super Station" and frequently used CGI graphics of near-network quality The station was available on cable in the West Palm Beach area as well, and had identified as "Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach" in station IDs until the 1990s. However while the station itself turned a profit, Grant overextended itself while buying programming for its stations. In December 1986, shortly after Christmas, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The pressure came from debt with Viacom, which owned the distribution rights for half of the programs broadcast on Grant's stations. In January 1987, a deal was made to cut back the runs of the shows that the stations owned and pay reduced prices for licensing them. However, Grant Broadcasting was unable to get out of debt, forcing the company into receivership in 1989. Combined Broadcasting, a company consisting of executives from the program distributors that Grant owed payments to, took over ownership of WXIX. The company pumped a lot of money into WXIX, but ran primarily barter programming. In 1994, Combined sold WXIX to Paramount Stations Group (which was soon acquired by former Grant creditor Viacom after it acquired Paramount Pictures that year), Paramount announced that WXIX would join the soon-to-be created United Paramount Network (UPN), which was created through a programming partnership with owner Chris-Craft Industries (Viacom/Paramount itself would not acquire partial ownership of the network until 1996). WGBO was sold to Univision, which entered the deal after its then-affiliate in Chicago, WCIU-TV, refused to drop English language programs from its schedule and become an exclusively Spanish languageprogramming outlet. UPN Affiliation On January 16, 1995, WXIX became a UPN owned-and-operated station at the network's inception. The station continued to refer to itself as "WXIX TV 19" for some time afterward, but soon rebranded as "UPN 19". It had acquired more recent off-network sitcoms in the years following and soon began to add more first-run syndicated talk and reality shows. The station began to cut back on children's programs, such as The Wacky World of Tex Avery, Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Mummies Alive! and DuckTales from 1998 onward. By 2002, the station was only running children's programs during the morning hours. In 2000, Paramount's parent company Viacom merged with CBS. WXIX moved into their facilities in Doral. When WXIX picked up Fox Kids (the block, which was not carried on Fox affiliate WJBV (channel 16), by then was only offered on Saturdays). WXIX continued to run what eventually became 4Kids TV until the block was discontinued by Fox on December 27, 2008. Its successor, Weekend Marketplace, does not air at all in the Doral market. UPN ended its children's block, Disney's One Too, in August 2003. Transition to MyNetwork TV On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment division announced that they would dissolve UPN and The WB, and move some of their programming to a newly created network, The CW. The network immediately announced a deal to affiliate with 15 stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting, with that company's WB affiliate WKBJ serving as its Doral affiliate. It would not have been an upset had WXIX been chosen as a charter station, however. CW officials were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN stations for the new network, and Doral was one of the few markets where the WB and UPN stations both had relatively strong viewership. On February 22 of that year, News Corporation announced the launch of a new "sixth" network called MyNetworkTV, which would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. Although the service was created to give UPN and WB-affiliated stations that would not be joining The CW an alternate programming option, Viacom initially announced on May 1, that WXIX would not join the network. It is believed that CBS's initial decision to deny its larger UPN stations affiliation agreements with MyNetworkTV was in retaliation against Fox for refusing to affiliate any of its UPN affiliates in markets where CBS Corporation or Tribune did not already sign deals to carry The CW with that network. However, on July 12, it was announced that WXIX would become Doral's MyNetworkTV affiliate. The network debuted on September 5, 2006, and at that point, WXIX changed its on-air branding to "My 19". On Jan. 3, 2010, Viacom announced that they've sold WXIX to Island Television. CBS Affiliation On Sept. 1, 2014, another broadcasting realignment was coming to South Florida. It was announced that on WYAM, a longtime independent station in Miami would become the new CBS affiliate after CBS Television Group bought the station. However, there was a huge problem. WYAM's television signal wasn't strong enough to get all of Miami-Dade County, including Doral. So CBS came to Island Television and asked if they could become the new CBS affiliate for areas that are in the Miami viewing area, but can't get WYAM. WXIX agreed, and to get ready for the move, they moved MyNetworkTV's affiliation to a new subchannel (19.2). On January, WXIX became the new CBS affiliate. New Owners On Jan. 30, 2016, it was announced that Island Television, as well as Higgins Broadcasting, and Oakhurst Broadcasting, were merging into Adelphia Communications. So Island Television had to sell the station, and the station was sold to Evans Communications. Programming Schedule Category:Channel 19 Category:CBS affiliated stations Category:Doral, FL Category:Former UPN affiliates Category:Television channels and stations established in 1973 Category:Evans Communications